Meet the mountaineer Olivia Jane. If I can do it, anybody can.

On July the 22nd, 1871, Lucy Walker became the first woman to reach the summit of the Matterhorn. Climbing firmly against the grain, Lucy was undeterred by the stiff Victorian attitude of the day - and at a time when a woman's place was still seen as firmly in the home, she made it to the top of the 4,478 metre peak in style, fuelled by a diet of champagne and sponge cake.

150 years later – British mountaineer Olivia Jane is set to pay homage to Lucy's pioneering expedition, following in Lucy's footsteps (and footholds) to summit Switzerland's most notorious peak.

This is far from being 'just another mountain' to Olivia, and reaching the top will be the realisation of a life-long dream. Olivia spent a lot of her childhood in Zermatt, the same village that was the base for Lucy Walker's Matterhorn ascent in 1871. Her family bred St. Bernard dogs to support the mountain rescue teams in the area which is where her passion for mountains and adventure grew.

In partnership with Mammut and Switzerland Tourism, Olivia will be documenting every step of her journey on her Instagram - but to set the scene a little bit, we called her up to find out a bit about her childhood in Switzerland, her love of the outdoors and the endless hunt for adrenaline.

My family had a photography shop in the centre of Zermatt, so I spent most of my childhood out there. I’d literally wake up to the Matterhorn every morning. It was a big part of my family’s life. Me and my grandad would do these local walks, up to this viewpoint to the Matterhorn, and I remember standing with my grandparents saying, “I’m going to climb up there one day.” The Matterhorn is super special to me. It’s the one I’ve always wanted to do. To me, it’s the most iconic mountain, and it was always the one that I wanted to climb.

I climbed a lot with my grandfather when I was growing up. Later at University I joined the mountaineering and climbing club and that’s where it really started. I tried to tag along with friends who were a lot better than me and watched how they’d climb, trying to learn the rope skills and gaining more and more confidence. 

I specifically remember watching a documentary about five years ago with Gwen Moffat in it and she really inspired me. I feel it’s a lot more the norm now for female mountaineers and climbers to scale big mountains. 

My first big Alpine route took place around the same time and I completely fell in love with it, because it was so challenging. I don’t know if words can describe it. It makes me speechless every time I get out there. Those routes in the Alps… they’re big. It’s out of this world.

I’ve got to make myself fit enough to give myself the best chance to summit. It’s a lot easier to train with a goal. 

I’ll be prioritising mountain fitness and efficient movement skills. I’ll try to mimic the same sort of rock movement - practising on grade 2 or 3 scrambles, and Vdiff climbs, but carrying a rucksack and wearing mountaineering boots, whereas normally on something like that, you’d wear climbing shoes. I want to get used to moving on these climbs with a pack on my back - because it can be quite awkward. I try to almost simulate the situation. 

In addition, I’ll do strength training and loads of cardio-vascular training, to help with the altitude, and plenty of big, long days on the hills. But despite a lot of training and tough experiences that build your confidence, you can’t be overconfident. 

There’s only one way up, and one way down, so I just try and stay very focussed, and very calm. I don’t overthink too much. Being a little bit scared is healthy, but not to the point where you freeze up. I know the risks are there, but I don’t think about them and while doing things naturally, I am getting into that ‘flow state’ and can try to just enjoy it. Besides, I will be supported by an experienced mountain guide from Zermatters.

And there is that feeling at the end - I usually get a bit shell shocked, and I need a bit of time to get my head around what I’ve just done - but for me, it’s doing it. It’s the adrenaline. That’s what I crave in my life. 

And instead of relaxing – well I guess I do relax in my own time - but I’m always thinking about what my next adventure is. That’s what keeps me alive. It keeps me going. It’s like my grandma - she’s 80 and she’s still walking in the hills. I always say to her, “How are you still going?” and she says, “It’s because I’m not sat there doing nothing.”